Back to the Future: Out of the hobby and then back again is shocking!

[muggle reefer]

I have never left the hobby, been at it for almost 10 years with our small acquarium. However, during that time I was just plugging away running my system and doing water changes. I have not been paying attention to how technology is changing the hobby. Had not even been thinking about it. I was pretty shocked and enthused about some of the things I have found out about in the last couple weeks as I start rethinking this whole thing. Two things that stand out to me are led lights that can set up a complete solar and lunar cycle with a couple clicks. Wave generators that can set patterns in your tank resembling natural ocean currents. So much more that I had no idea existed. I started looking around because I wanted to upsize our tank from a 35 gallon to something in the range of 80 to 100.

 

[Marc Hagan]

I have a local friend, whom I became very good friends with because of the hobby, who had quit the hobby many years ago. Lately we have been talking and he decided the time was right for him to get back into the hobby. YAY!

He's literally been out of the loop completely so he began asking me questions about how reefing had changed, about the best equipment etc. He was shocked to hear how we could now automatically test things like alkalinity, calcium and magnesium among other things. He was shocked at how a lot of the companies now are really working to create their own network of equipment that didn't exactly work well with other equipment brands. He was also shocked that Euphyllia coral is in such high demand and commands such higher prices than that of many years ago. There are a lot of shocking changes and evolution to reefing for him and someone who hasn't been following along for sometime! Let's talk about it today!

1. If you were just getting back into the hobby after a long hiatus what do you think would shock you the most?

2. What do you think is the next biggest trend or shocking change in reefing in the next 10 years or so?

I have a local friend, whom I became very good friends with because of the hobby, who had quit the hobby many years ago. Lately we have been talking and he decided the time was right for him to get back into the hobby. YAY!

He's literally been out of the loop completely so he began asking me questions about how reefing had changed, about the best equipment etc. He was shocked to hear how we could now automatically test things like alkalinity, calcium and magnesium among other things. He was shocked at how a lot of the companies now are really working to create their own network of equipment that didn't exactly work well with other equipment brands. He was also shocked that Euphyllia coral is in such high demand and commands such higher prices than that of many years ago. There are a lot of shocking changes and evolution to reefing for him and someone who hasn't been following along for sometime! Let's talk about it today!

1. If you were just getting back into the hobby after a long hiatus what do you think would shock you the most?

2. What do you think is the next biggest trend or shocking change in reefing in the next 10 years or so?

Yes I would because all of the new technology and how far it come and all the dosing pumps and rodi systems out now and every little tool to measure different things in the tank and it reports back to you.

I think the next biggest thing is going to be a completely automated system that you don’t have to touch at all you just enjoy the tank and it’s all run on an electronic.

 

[pochaxoo]

I was definitely surprised by the rapid increase in the price of everything in this hobby. But when I was doing this before there were tons of corals that you just couldn't keep alive so it didn't matter if you could import something new and different it just wouldn't live. So all the more advanced technology has given us free reign to try things that were only the province of public aquariums before. It may be the higher prices came with the larger online coral growers that figured out not just the marketing but the economics of what it takes to make a successful business. Based on all my capitalism science fiction reading we are currently in the phase where marketing has discovered how advertise corals with so many fabulous names it is driving real business opportunities. That will all change when Google enters the marketplace and we all get free coral (with advertising).

 

[BrandonS]

Shocked by prices, equipment availability, and options. But the old school techniques still work and sometimes better.

 

[rusty hannon]

I have a local friend, whom I became very good friends with because of the hobby, who had quit the hobby many years ago. Lately we have been talking and he decided the time was right for him to get back into the hobby. YAY!

He's literally been out of the loop completely so he began asking me questions about how reefing had changed, about the best equipment etc. He was shocked to hear how we could now automatically test things like alkalinity, calcium and magnesium among other things. He was shocked at how a lot of the companies now are really working to create their own network of equipment that didn't exactly work well with other equipment brands. He was also shocked that Euphyllia coral is in such high demand and commands such higher prices than that of many years ago. There are a lot of shocking changes and evolution to reefing for him and someone who hasn't been following along for sometime! Let's talk about it today!

1. If you were just getting back into the hobby after a long hiatus what do you think would shock you the most?

2. What do you think is the next biggest trend or shocking change in reefing in the next 10 years or so?

I would defiantly b shocked and are shocked, not just by the prices of live stock or equipment but things we viewed as pests are now sold,at a high price, as pets.

 

[daybreaksky]

Just getting back after a decade. My impressions so far:
.5 rimpless tanks are super cool
1. Corals cost what?
1.5 was gonna ask locally for a piece of rock to seed the tank but I can add bacteria AND coraline from a bottle.... That's so cool!!!
2. Yellow tang is $130 huh?
3. I'm sure there is a million budget controllers now.... Wait just apex? Ok
4. Def setting up t5 or MH .. oh wait everyone is doing LED cool... There are million choices AAAAA... Oh wait everyone is going back to t5 and mh... Or may be not? AAAAA!!!
5. How many QT tanks do I need to setup in different corners of my house?? And I need to go to vet school to be able to buy and add a fish?
6. My heater now has wifi? That's neat but back in my day we heater water by turning on lights j/k

Exaggerated of course but not by much haha

Oh forgot to say @Bulk Reef Supply TV channel is bonkers. love what you guys have done for the community!

 

[ca1ore]

What do you consider to be a long hiatus? Two years, four years .....longer? I 'retired' from the hobby in late 2009 and did not return until March of 2013. Not long enough to be shocked. Maybe if it had been a decade.

 

[Brewers best]

I was out for just over 10 years. Started to build my setup and re-evaluated many times with the new technologies. I currently have everything under my tank but am building a control panel cabinet. I don’t have apex or anything like that but want to pull the controllers out of the humid sump area. Not near this many computerized components 10 years ago (also that tank was setup 15 years ago)

 

[takitaj]

I am just returning after about 8 years or so. I was pleasantly shocked by the equipment available today. The controllers, skimmers, pumps, additives, etc. and knowledge have come a long way. I'm also shocked by some of the prices of equipment and the cost of fish and corals today! $100 for a single polop of zoanthid??!! The most expensive fish was maybe $100 or more for a really rare one. I remember buying a 6" wall hammer for $50 or duncans for $30 or an entire 6-8" rock, completely covered with zoanthids for like $40. I'm gonna need to take out a second mortgage to stock a 90 gallon. lol I'd say the sticker shock is my biggest shock getting back in.

 

[Indytraveler83]

I was a reefer as a teenager, and got back in a few years ago. I was shocked, and here's why:

1) The pure ability now is shocking. As a teen I remember the bleached coral skeletons and all sorts of inappropriate animals that could be obtained that had no place in reefing.

Now we know so much more and can do so much more. It's like leaving 4th grade and returning to a University with nothing in between!

2) Prices. Oh. My. Goodness!


Predictions:

1) I think we are going to make better advancements in understanding biodiversity and implementing that in our systems. I hope that system stability will have as much to do with having proper organisms as it does proper equipment.

2) Like it or not, wild caught animals will be more difficult, if not impossible/illegal to obtain. Advancements in captive breeding will shape the contents of our reefs, and what we can/cannot have.

 

[Yevoc]

When I left:
MH lights
Prop mods
DSB
Live rock
Wild corals.

When I came back:
LEDS
Tons of flow options. DC return pumps.
Dry rock and bac in a bottle.
Captive bred corals and FISH.

It was a it of a change. I miss live rock, mostly everything else is markedly better.

 

[JPHawkins]

The cost is the shocker for me. I’m building a large system as we speak and was only out of the hobby for about 4 years, and the price tags on equipment and live stock seems to have doubled in some cases.I still remember the prices of livestock 15 years ago, wish they were still the same!

 

[Bob Weigant]

I originally said no but looking back at when I first got into the hobby lots of things have changed and the prices just keep going up.

 

[sp1187]

I was in from 84-97.
Got back in 2017.
Technology updates didn't shock me.
Now recent live stock pricing increases..... that's shocking.

 

[rusty hannon]

1) what shocks me the most after 6 years gone is how far controllers (basically apex) and the spread of information on how to do things or comparing info has come. I think I read a post here about how someone dumps salt into a bucket and the controller basically takes care of the rest...even just setting that up correctly is like a new reefing skill and forums like this one spread that info very efficiently.

2) 10 years from now I’ll be looking at someone’s flawless mixed reef tank outfitted with amazing gear and this person will tell me that they have just started reefing (Wait, it already happened: )

This tank and the builder is awesome. For a new reefer he did an amazing job. Can't wait to see what's next. Just curious how much it all cost

 

[Silverfish]

I did and I was! The biggest thing was the sheer amount of coral that you could grow. Few people were lucky enough to be able to grow hard corals so most of us grew mostly softies. Doesn’t mean we didn’t try but it was so cost inhibitive. Now the standard tank can pretty much grow anything.

 

[CeeGee]

Absolutely I would be shocked. This has become a rich boy hobby. It has always been somewhat pricey but what is going on these days is just embarrassing. Financing on aquarium products? Really?

 

[kabal2]

I came back about a year ago from a 17-year hiatus, the hobby went from MH to all led, the controllers, the cool things to test the water, and the crazy price for all those crazy named corals, what happened to the green Acropora nowadays we have the hulk, and the radioactive green and god all those other names

 

[Donseas]

I have been out 20 years. Just got back in a few moths ago.
Coral and fish cost is amazing now.
Filtration and tanks setup is different. I had the Jaubert method for sand bed back in the day.
Lighting is in a different world now.
Controllers were just starting to come out. Very crude. They are amazing now. No more 20 timers hooked up.

 

[Karliefish]

Yes. 3 things have shocked me and amazed me:
1) Price of everything has gotten crazy high. I know that we are all obsessed by this hobby and are will to pay serious $’s to get the exact setup we want, but somehow I feel the supplier community is really sticking it to us. Especially on lighting, pumps and skimmers.
2) Automation is just awesome. I remember back in 2010-11 when I bought my first controller that could manage switches, temperature, a dosing pump and lighting. Now most water test are automated. Gone are the days of putting my glasses on, clearing off the kitchen table and spending the evening, with an eye droplet, swirling water around in glass viles and doing color matching with cards.
3) variety of fish supply is much tougher. Mail order fish purchases has become to norm and LFS are becoming a thing of the past.